Rodman and Jung Un have struck up a strange friendship that has many upset with Rodman that he would associate himself with a highly secretive regime that has committed various human rights violations and is currently holding American-Korean missionary Kenneth Bae in a labor camp.

"(It's) not my job" to talk human rights, Rodman said Monday. "This game is for his birthday, and hopefully this open the doors and we can actually talk about certain things and we can do certain things. But I'm not going to sit there and go 'hey, guy, you're doing the wrong thing.' It's not the right thing to do, he's my friend first. .. I love him."

Rodman also told the Associated Press:

"This is about trying to connect two countries together in the world, to let people know that: Do you know what? Not every country in the world is that bad, especially North Korea," he said. "People say so many negative things about North Korea. And I want people in the world to see it's not that bad."

Former NBA stars Vin Baker, Kenny Anderson, Doug Christie and Cliff Robinson are among the players joining Rodman in North Korea.

The U.S. State Department warns U.S. citizens against visiting North Korea, where several Americans have been detained in recent years.

But former Harlem Globetrotter Antwan Scott told USA Today he isn't worried about the trip.

"I'm not nervous at all," said Scott. "I'm doing something I love, to play basketball, to entertain, been doing it all my life, haven't had a problem."